A special edition of the HBO program Costas Now featuring Hank Aaron and Willie Mays premieres tonight at 8 p.m. (9 p.m. EST). Birmingham Weekly contributing writer Allen Barra was in the audience when Bob Costas interviewed the pair of legends and he filed the following report:

It was, as Yogi Berra once artfully observed, Deja vu all over again. Hank Aaron and Willie Mays, the two most revered living former ballplayers — or at least two out of three if one counts Yogi himself — replayed their memories of baseball’s Golden Age, the 1950s and 1960s, for Bob Costas on a special edition of HBO’s Costas Now. (The program premieres on Tuesday, Sept. 30 and will air several times throughout October.)

Read the full story

IT TAKES A VILLAGE: Just ask Joe Minter, who took his backyard in Titusville and made it into a an African village. Minter’s sculpture Slave Ship: The Ship that We were Hijacked and Kidnapped Out of Africa into American and Europe is currently on display at Vulcan Park, and the artist himself will be there on Tuesday, Feb. 26, for the final “Collective Perspectives” program. This week’s cover story is a photo essay on Minter by the phenomenal photographer Jonathan Purvis.

And speaking of pretty pictures, how about that mayor? And how about the tricky ties of his consultant pal John Katopodis?

Plenty of politicos and their cronies complain about the bad raps their reps get in the press, but it’s often bona fide heroes that really take the beatings.

When times are tough, we seek solace in the stars. And by “we,” I mean J’Mel Davidson. The rest of us just talk about who we’re voting for — in the Birmingham Area Music Awards.

Plus, we always have news, views and entertainment.